‘Things happened that we don’t know about’: Emmanuel Macron becomes latest world leader to question China over coronavirus

Emmanuel Macron has questioned China‘s version of how it handled the coronavirus outbreak, saying things “happened that we don’t know about”.

In a scathing slap down of suggestions the one-party state was able to contain the pandemic better than western democracies, the French president indicated it would be “naive” to believe official accounts provided by the country.

His comments came as China revised upwards the number of people killed by the virus there by almost 50 per cent.

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“Given … what China is today, which I respect, let’s not be so naive as to say it’s been much better at handling this,” Mr Macron told the Financial Times newspaper. “We don’t know. There are clearly things that have happened that we don’t know about.”

And he added any suggestion that western democracies should question long-held principles of freedom were misguided.

“We can’t accept that,” he said. “You can’t abandon your fundamental DNA on the grounds that there is a health crisis.”

The comments make Mr Macron only the latest world leader to question China’s handling of the pandemic’s outbreak.

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab, acting as prime minister in Boris Johnson’s absence, previously said that “hard questions” would be asked about how the outbreak started “and how it couldn’t have been stopped earlier” — an apparent reference to China’s delay in reporting the bug to the rest of the world.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, put it even more bluntly in a Wednesday news briefing. “Does anybody really believe the numbers?” he asked of China’s official death toll.

The US president also gave succour to growing conspiracy theories suggesting the virus did not originate in Wuhan’s wet market — but in a nearby laboratory. He said Washington was looking into reports the bug may have escaped from the lab, which was known to be researching coronaviruses in bats.

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The theory has gained traction after The Washington Post revealed the existence of government cables from 2018 in which the US embassy in Beijing raised concerns about safety of the facility in question.

“I will tell you more and more we’re hearing the story and we’ll see,” said Mr Trump.

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On 13 March, Poland closed its borders due to the ongoing pandemic of the Covid-19 and has extended the measure until at least 11 April EPA 22/51 26 March 2020 Tenon hospital emergency services staff members gesture during a break, on March 26, 2020 in Paris, as the country is under lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus. AFP via Getty 23/51 25 March 2020 Aerial view showing almost empty streets in Bogota, taken during the lockdown ordered by the government to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus AFP via Getty 24/51 24 March 2020 Staff members line up to attention as they prepare to spray disinfectant at Wuhan Railway Station. China announced that a lockdown would be lifted on more than 50 million people in central Hubei province where the Covid-19 coronavirus first emerged late last year AFP via Getty 25/51 23 March 2020 A public order agency officer sprays disinfectant over a woman before she enters a local government office as a precautionary move against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Surabaya AFP via Getty 26/51 22 March 2020 Boys wearing protective and N95 masks play with a football outside their homes in Gaza City AFP via Getty 27/51 21 March 2020 A woman standing on her balcony reaches out to catch a rose delivered to her via a drone on Mother's day, in the Lebanese coastal city of Jounieh, north of the capital Beirut, as people remain indoors in an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus. In a quiet Lebanese town under lockdown over the novel coronavirus, a drone buzzed towards a balcony on Saturday to deliver a red rose to a mother grinning in surprise. The COVID-19 pandemic may have put a damper on Mother's Day this year, but three students have come up with a novel service to celebrate the occasion without flouting social distancing restrictions AFP via Getty 28/51 20 March 2020 Newlyweds Diego Fernandes, 46 and Deni Salgado, 30, kiss through protective face masks at a wedding ceremony with only witnesses and no guests, as public gatherings are banned as part of Italy's lockdown measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease in Naples Reuters 29/51 19 March 2020 Members of a medical assistance team from Jiangsu province chant slogans at a ceremony marking their departure after helping with the Covid-19 coronavirus recovery effort, in Wuhan. Medical teams from across China began leaving Wuhan this week after the number of new coronavirus infections dropped. China on reported no new domestic cases for the first time since it started recording them in January, but recorded a spike in infections from abroad AFP via Getty 30/51 18 March 2020 Sri Lankan police wear face masks a rehearsal parade in Colombo AFP via Getty 31/51 17 March 2020 Divers clean and swipe the floor and walls of a pool at an aquatic complex in Medellin after the closure of all sporting venues in Colombia as a preventive measure against the spread of the Covid-19 AFP via Getty 32/51 16 March 2020 Workers spray disinfectant as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus at the Mubarikiya market following the outbreak of coronavirus, in Kuwait City EPA 33/51 15 March 2020 People gather with their belongings at the scene of the fire outbreak at Abule-Ado in Lagos, Nigeria Reuters 34/51 14 March 2020 A man feeds pidgeons at Cataluna Square in Barcelona EPA 35/51 13 March 2020 A mosso de esquadra police officer stands on the closed off road near Igualada, Spain. Over 60,000 people awoke Friday in four towns near Barcelona confined to their homes and with police blocking roads. The order by regional authorities in Catalonia is Spain's first mandatory lockdown as Covid-19 coronavirus infections increase sharply AP 36/51 12 March 2020 Italian mechanics Giacomo and Alessandro pose at their garage in Rome, as Italy shut all stores except for pharmacies and food shops in a desperate bid to halt the spread of a coronavirus that has killed 827 in the the country in just over two weeks AFP via Getty 37/51 11 March 2020 Monks pray for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster during a memorial service on the coast in Iwaki, Fukushima. Japan marked the ninth anniversary of the killer tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, but fears about the new coronavirus forced a scaling back of public commemorations Jiji Press/AFP via Getty 38/51 10 March 2020 Revellers dance as they celebrate Holi, the spring festival of colours in Allahabad AFP/Getty 39/51 9 March 2020 Medical staff celebrate after all patients were discharged at a temporary hospital set up to treat people with the COVID-19 coronavirus in Wuhan in China AFP/Getty 40/51 8 March 2020 A hundred members of the conservative activist group called Manif pour Tous ("Protest for Everyone") dressed as Marianne, French Republic's allegory, stage a protest against assisted reproductive technology (ART) and surrogacy in front of the National Assembly in Paris, France AFP/Getty 41/51 7 March 2020 A migrant man runs away as another one takes cover behind a bin as Greek police use water cannons to block them trying to break fences in the Turkey-Greece border province of Edirne AFP/Getty 42/51 6 March 2020 Police and forensic experts inspect the scene of an explosion near the US embassy in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia AFP/Getty 43/51 5 March 2020 Migrants prepare for the coming night in a forest in the buffer zone at the Turkey-Greece border a crossing point AFP/Getty 44/51 4 March 2020 A migrant rests with a child in his arms next to the Tunca river in Edirne, Turkey Reuters 45/51 3 March 2020 Spanish policemen and civil guards sporting Guy Fawkes masks protest in front of Spanish policemen standing guard during a demonstration to demand fair wages in Madrid AFP via Getty 46/51 2 March 2020 South Korean soldiers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant as part of preventive measures against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, at a market in Daegu Yonhap/AFP via Getty 47/51 1 March 2020 A woman shouts as law enforcement officials move in to disperse a group of immigrants who had occupied a historic church and a square. They are demanding to be moved to another country as they claim to feel not safe because of xenophobic attacks in central Cape Town, South Africa Reuters 48/51 29 February 2020 Greek border guard use teargas to push back migrants who try to enter Greece at the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Turkey AP 49/51 28 February 2020 A woman makes her way and NGO's members help as a dinghy with 54 Afghan refugees lands ashore the Greek island of Lesbos. Turkey will no longer close its border gates to refugees who want to go to Europe, a senior official told AFP, shortly after the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in an airstrike in northern Syria AFP via Getty Images 50/51 27 February 2020 Snow has fallen in high ground in Tasmania during the Australian summer Tasmanian Rover Ski Club / Facebook 51/51 26 February 2020 Men ride a motorcycle past security forces patrolling a street in a riot-affected area of Delhi on Wednesday Reuters

Meanwhile, as if to unwittingly provide support for scepticism about China’s response to the virus, Beijing itself released figures on Friday showing it had previously under-reported the country’s death toll.

The new number for people killed by the virus was 4,632 — a figure almost 50 per cent higher than previously admitted.

Officials said the discrepancy was because reports of some deaths had been delayed amid the crisis.